Removable jewelry setting

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an improvement in an article of jewelry of the type in which the ornamental portion of the article is secured or released selectively from the support portion of the article. The removable jewelry setting provides a simplified construction which is used readily by the wearer of jewelry to assemble a particular combination of ornament and support selected from a wide variety of such combinations made available by the improvement. The construction also enhances the ability to tailor a jewelry article to a particular style of dress without unduly multiplying the number of expensive ornaments required to provide a wide range of ornamented articles. The construction enables ease of interchange of the ornamental portion of an article of jewelry.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

In accordance with 37 C.F.R 1.76, a claim of priority is included in anApplication Data Sheet filed concurrently herewith. Accordingly, thepresent invention claims priority as a Continuation to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/856,249, filed Apr. 3, 2013, entitled “REMOVABLEJEWELRY SETTING”, which is a Continuation-in-Part to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/900,523, filed Oct. 8, 2010, now Issued U.S.Pat. No. 8,434,327, entitled, “REMOVABLE JEWELRY SETTING”, which is aContinuation-in-Part to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/798,503,filed Apr. 5, 2010, entitled, “LACE LOCK DEVICE”, which is nowabandoned. The contents of each of the above referenced applications areherein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to articles of jewelry, and morespecifically, the present disclosure relates to a jewelry setting thatmay be affixed to various other articles of jewelry or clothing toenhance the visual appearance thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of jewelry to accent and complement various styles of dressrequires variety in the design and appearance of jewelry pieces. Thus,the most desirable wardrobes include many articles of clothing and/orjewelry, leading to considerable expense, in purchase as well as inupkeep and storage. Since the ornamental portion of a jewelry piece,such as a gemstone in a setting, often is the most dramatic element ofthe piece, and the most expensive element, it has been suggested thatthe versatility of jewelry can be increased, while expense can bereduced, by providing for the selective interchange of the ornamentalportion from piece to piece. In that manner, a particularly prizedornament, such as a highly precious gemstone or arrangement ofgemstones, can be secured, selectively, to any one of a variety ofshoes, hats, clothing, pins, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and thelike, thereby increasing the versatility of the gemstone while at thesame time reducing the expenses of purchasing and maintaining a completeand flexible wardrobe. However, the interchangeability accomplished bythe prior art structures are mostly for the convenience of thecommercial supplier of jewelry, and not necessarily for the placement ofa more versatile wardrobe in the hands of an individual end user.Consequently, the suggested constructions are relatively complex and arenot easily operated by the person who will wear the jewelry.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Removable or interchangeable jewelry settings have been proposed in theprior art. In general, interchangeable jewelry has concentrated onchanging the stones on a particular piece of jewelry, such as a ring orearring, and has ignored the possibility of constructing a jeweledsetting that is directly attachable to articles of clothing, as well asvarious types of articles of jewelry.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,667 discusses a construction in whichjeweled settings can be interchanged. Various arrangements are disclosedfor accomplishing interchangeability.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,766 discloses an interchangeable stone held in placeby clamps which are under tension by ornamental screws while, U.S. Pat.No. 3,605,438 discloses settings on a bar pin where the bar pin extendsthrough an ornamental background and the settings, including ornamentalbackgrounds, can be mixed and matched. They are held in place by aspring clip over the bar pin.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 899,296; 1,152,340; and 2,316,225 disclose a stonesetting that can be removed for various split and hinged rings. U.S.Pat. No. 2,537,445 discloses settings which can be snapped or screwedinto place. U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,734 discloses a setting held in placemagnetically. U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,758 discloses a setting held in placeby a spring loaded mount. U.S. Pat. No. 2,253,343 discloses an emblemheld on a ring by screws, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,354,513 discloses asetting with a bar pin held in place by a set screw in the ring.

As demonstrated by the prior art, conventional changeable settingsgenerally are required to include small removable parts which are easilylost and are designed so that all except the nimblest of fingers canwork the design. Therefore, conventional changeable settings do not meetthe need for an uncomplicated and low cost manner for providing a meansto mix and match settings within a single piece of jewelry with fewparts to lose, and which is easily manipulated by the public.

Golf is a game that originated in 15^(th) century Scotland. Since then,the popularity of golf has soared with over 50% of the world's golfcourses located here in the United States. One of the attributes of thegame of golf is marking the position of one player's ball so thatanother player may strike his ball without risk of hitting the firstplayer's ball. Often a coin or a snap from a golfer's glove is used tomark the position of the player's ball. With the huge popularity ofgolf, not to mention the exclusivity of some golf clubs, marking a ballposition with a coin or snap has become very mundane and many golferswould prefer something unique for a ball marker. The ball marker must beeasily accessed for removal and replacement to its storage position. Theball marker should also be customizable for an individual golfer. Thebase portion of the ball marker should be attachable to various stylesof shoes and clothing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an improvement in an article of jewelryof the type in which the ornamental portion of the article is secured orreleased selectively from the support portion of the article, andattains several objects and advantages, some of which are summarized asfollows: Provides a jewelry system of simplified construction which isused readily by the wearer of jewelry to assemble a particularcombination of ornament and support selected from a wide variety of suchcombinations made available by the improvement; enhances the ability totailor a jewelry article to a particular style of dress without undulymultiplying the number of expensive ornaments required to provide a widerange of ornamented articles; opens new fields of fashion by rendering awide variety of jewelry articles more available at lowered expense;provides a construction which is universal in the ability to accommodatealmost any available ornamental element, including gemstones ofessentially all sizes and cuts, so that the ornament is available forselection and placement by the wearer in combination with any one of awide variety of supports; enables ease of interchange of the ornamentalportion of an article of jewelry while providing a high degree ofsecurity once the ornamental portion is affixed to the support; avoidsdeleterious effects of stresses tending to distort the construction andimpede ease of operation; and enables the construction of a highlydesirable jewelry system of utmost quality and exemplary performanceover a long service life.

Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide aremovable jewelry setting.

It is a further objective of the present invention to provide aremovable jewelry setting that includes a releasable and lockable upperbody portion to allow the setting to be secured to an elongated member.

It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide aremovable jewelry setting that includes an internal channel forcooperating with an elongated member.

It is a still further objective of the present invention to provide aremovable jewelry setting with outwardly mounted stabilizers to preventrotation of the jewelry setting about the elongated member to which itis mounted.

A still further objective of the present invention is to provide aremovable jewelry setting that includes removable and replaceablestabilizers for enhanced visual appearance and ease of attaching thejewelry setting to a desired elongated object.

An even further objective of the present invention to provide aremovable jewelry setting that includes a removable ball marker for thegame of golf.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in conjunction with any accompanyingdrawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example,certain embodiments of this invention. Any drawings contained hereinconstitute a part of this specification and include exemplaryembodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects andfeatures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A is a front perspective view of one embodiment of the removablejewelry setting;

FIG. 1B is a front perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1,illustrated with the ball marker removed.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a left end view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a right end view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of an alternative embodiment of aremovable jewelry setting;

FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG.7;

FIG. 9 is a section view taken along lines 9-9 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a section view taken along lines 10-10 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a partial section view taken along lines 11-11 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is a partial section view taken along lines 12-12 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 13 is a partial section view taken along lines 12-12 of FIG. 16illustrating an alternative path for threading the elongated memberthrough the removable jewelry setting;

FIG. 14 is an exploded view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is a partial section view taken along lines 15-15 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating one embodiment of theremovable jewelry setting secured to a shoe lacing;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating one embodiment of theremovable jewelry setting secured to a hat.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in variousforms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be describeda presently preferred, albeit not limiting, embodiment with theunderstanding that the present disclosure is to be considered anexemplification of the present invention and is not intended to limitthe invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.

Referring generally to the Figures, various embodiments of a removablejewelry setting 10 are illustrated. The removable jewelry settinggenerally includes a lower body portion 12 pivotally connected to anupper body portion 22 and a latch assembly 28 for maintaining theassembly in a closed position while allowing access to the interiorportion of the assembly when desired for attachment and removal of thejewelry setting. To accomplish these tasks, the lower body portion isprovided with a channel 14 (FIGS. 12 and 13) extending through, atleast, the length of the lower body portion covered by the upper bodyportion 22. The channel preferably includes two spaced apart side walls16, 18 defining the width of the channel 14, and a lower wall 20 spacedapart from the upper body portion 22 to define the height of thechannel. In at least one embodiment, the upper surface 32 of the lowerbody portion 12 includes a notch 33 to allow the upper body portion 22to be recessed into the lower body portion 12. In addition to providinga different aesthetic appearance, this construction provides lateralstability to the upper body portion in a closed and/or open position asillustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8.

Referring to FIGS. 7-14, the lower wall 20 is preferably integrallyformed between the side walls 16, 18 to provide rigidity to the lowerbody portion. Formed in the central portion of the lower wall is thelatch housing 34. The latch housing is preferably formed as a tubularconduit positioned substantially transverse with respect to the channel14 to contain a spring latch assembly 36. The spring latch assemblyincludes at least one spring member 40 and a sliding latch body 38positioned to cooperate with a pawl member 42. The sliding latch body ispreferably formed to include a shape that prevents rotation within thelatch housing and includes a depression 52 therein that contains a catch50. The catch is positioned within the depression for engagement withthe pawl member 42. The pawl member is positioned on a lower surface 44of the upper body portion 22 and preferably includes a first rampsurface 46 that is constructed and arranged to cooperate with a secondramp surface 48 on the catch 50 to cause movement of the sliding latchassembly 36 thereby compressing spring members 40. Upon passing the rampsurface, the compressed springs are released to cause the catch 50 toengage the pawl 42 to maintain the assembly in a closed position (FIG.9). In a most preferred embodiment, a manually engagable actuatingportion, illustrated herein as a button 54 that extends through a sidewall of said lower body portion is provided for easy release of thelatch assembly. In this manner the removable jewelry setting can beopened for insertion of an elongated member 56 into the channel andclosed to lock the jewelry setting 10 to the elongated member. Removalmerely requires the upper body portion to be released via the slidinglatch assembly 36 to remove the jewelry setting for attachment toanother elongated member. It should also be noted that in someembodiments the latch housing 34 extends a predetermined distance intothe channel 14 to function as a pinch point (see FIGS. 12 and 13)between the lower wall 20 and the lower surface 44 of the upper bodyportion 22 to prevent the removable jewelry setting 10 from slidingalong the elongated member 56 when positioned within the channel 14.

Referring to FIGS. 1-26, the lower body portion 12 includes a lengththat is longer than the upper body portion 22 so that a portion of thelower body extends outward with respect to each end of the upper bodyportion. Each outward extending portion 58 of the lower body preferablyincludes a stabilizer member 60. Each stabilizer member is preferablyarranged substantially perpendicular with respect to the channel, andeach stabilizer member includes at least one surface constructed andarranged to cooperate with an elongated member 56 positioned in thechannel to prevent rotation of the removable jewelry setting 10 aboutthe elongated member. In at least one embodiment, the stabilizer members60 are positioned a sufficient distance outward with respect to saidupper body portion to allow the elongated member 56 to be routed over orunder each of the stabilizer members and through the channel fordifferent appearances as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13. In addition, thestabilizer members 60 may be removable and replaceable as illustrated inFIGS. 2 and 14 for different appearance or assembly to an elongatedmember.

Referring generally to the Figures, the upper body portion 22 preferablyincludes a table 70 sized and shaped to support a ball marker 24. Theball marker may be constructed of various materials to include preciousstones, plated or painted materials. It should also be noted that theupper surface of the table 70 may include paints, plating or othersurface coating(s) well known in the art for decorating jewelry andpersonal adornments. Preferably, the ball marker is secured to the table70 with magnet 72 which is embedded into the table. A piece of iron,steel or the like 74 (FIGS. 12 and 13) is secured onto or into the rearsurface of the ball marker 24 to cooperate with the magnet 72. In atleast one embodiment, perimeter rails 76 are used to control thepositioning of the ball marker with respect to the table 70. The rails76 are preferably constructed from same material as the table 70 andinclude sufficient height to extend over the perimeter edge of the ballmarker 24. In some embodiments, the perimeter rails may includeundercuts or the like which require the ball marker to be shifted forremoval. It should be noted that while the magnet is depicted anddescribed as being secured to the table, the magnet may be secured tothe rear surface of the ball marker and the iron or steel to the tablewithout departing from the scope of the invention. It should also benoted that while the combination of a magnet and iron or steel aredescribed as the preferred embodiment, snaps, hook and loop, latches,catches or the like may be used to secure the ball marker to the tablewithout departing from the scope of the invention so long as they permiteasy removal and replacement of the ball marker as desired. The upperbody portion is preferably pivotally connected via a pin type hinge 26(FIGS. 9 and 10) to one of said side walls 16, 18 via pins 62 formovement between an open position and a closed position. It should benoted that the pin type hinge assembly 26 may be replaced with anynumber of hinges, well known in the art, without departing from thescope of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 16, one embodiment of the removable jewelry settingsecured to a hat 76 is illustrated with a ball marker secured thereto.

Referring to FIG. 17, one embodiment of the removable jewelry settingsecured to a hat 76 is illustrated with a ball marker secured thereto.

All patents and publications mentioned in this specification areindicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which theinvention pertains.

It is to be understood that while a certain form of the invention isillustrated, it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangementherein described and shown. It will be apparent to those skilled in theart that various changes may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention and the invention is not to be considered limited to whatis shown and described in the specification and any drawings/figuresincluded herein.

One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the presentinvention is well adapted to carry out the objectives and obtain theends and advantages mentioned, as well as those inherent therein. Theembodiments, methods, procedures and techniques described herein arepresently representative of the preferred embodiments, are intended tobe exemplary and are not intended as limitations on the scope. Changestherein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which areencompassed within the spirit of the invention and are defined by thescope of the appended claims. Although the invention has been describedin connection with specific preferred embodiments, it should beunderstood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited tosuch specific embodiments. Indeed, various modifications of thedescribed modes for carrying out the invention which are obvious tothose skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A removable jewelry setting comprising: a lowerbody portion having a channel extending therethrough, said channelincluding at least two spaced apart side walls defining a width of saidchannel and a lower wall spaced apart from an upper body portion todefine a height of said channel, an upper body portion including atleast one mounting for a stone thereon, said upper body portionpivotally connected to one of said side walls for movement between anopen position and a closed position, a releasable latch assembly, saidlatch assembly being constructed and arranged to cooperate with saidupper body portion and said lower body portion to retain said upper bodyportion in said closed position, said latch assembly being releasable toallow an elongated member to be placed in said channel, whereby pivotingsaid upper body portion to said closed position secures said removablejewelry setting around said elongated member.
 2. The removable jewelrysetting of claim 1 wherein said latch assembly is manually releasableand includes a manually engagable actuating portion extending through aside wall of said lower body portion.
 3. The removable jewelry settingof claim 2 wherein said latch assembly is a sliding spring latchassembly, said spring latch assembly including a sliding latch bodyhaving a depression therein, a catch positioned within said depressionfor facilitating engagement with a pawl, a spring member connected tosaid latch body and said lower body portion for biasing said latch bodyto a latched position, said pawl positioned on a lower surface of saidupper body portion.
 4. The removable jewelry setting of claim 3 whereinsaid lower body portion includes a tubular conduit for containing saidspring latch assembly, said tubular conduit positioned substantiallytransverse with respect to said channel.
 5. The removable jewelrysetting of claim 4 wherein said tubular conduit extends a predetermineddistance into said channel to function as a pinch point between saidlower body portion and said upper body portion to prevent said removablejewelry setting from sliding along said elongated member when positionedwithin said channel.
 6. The removable jewelry setting of claim 1 whereinsaid lower body includes a length that is longer than said upper bodyportion, a portion of said lower body extending outward with respect toeach end of said upper body portion.
 7. The removable jewelry setting ofclaim 6 wherein each said outward extending portion of said lower bodyportion includes a stabilizer member, each said stabilizer memberarranged substantially perpendicular with respect to said channel, eachsaid stabilizer member including at least one surface constructed andarranged to cooperate with an elongated member positioned in saidchannel to prevent rotation of said removable jewelry setting about saidelongated member.
 8. The removable jewelry setting of claim 6 whereineach said outward extending portion of said lower body portion includesa stabilizer member, each said stabilizer member arranged substantiallyperpendicular with respect to said channel, each said stabilizer memberincluding at least one surface that is constructed and arranged tocooperate with an elongated object to which said removable jewelrysetting is attached to prevent rotation of said removable jewelry. 9.The removable jewelry setting of claim 6 wherein said stabilizer membersare removable and replaceable.
 10. The removable jewelry setting ofclaim 6 wherein said elongated member may be routed over or under eachsaid stabilizer member and through said channel for differentappearances.
 11. The removable jewelry setting of claim 1 wherein saidmounting is constructed and arranged to retain at least one cabochonstone.
 12. The removable jewelry setting of claim 1 wherein saidmounting is constructed and arranged to retain at least one facetedstone.
 13. The removable jewelry setting of claim 12 wherein saidmounting is selected from the group consisting of a claw setting, abezel setting, a pave setting, a burnish setting, a prong setting, av-prong setting, a channel setting, a tension setting, a bar setting, acane setting, a bead setting, a rub over setting, an invisible settingor a semi mount.
 14. The removable jewelry setting of claim 1 whereinsaid lower body portion and said upper body portion include a curveextending between the distal ends thereof.